THE MIGHTY DFV

The four-cylinder FVA (four-valve Type A, with gear-driven cams) of 1966 was a practice run for the most successful F1 engine ever – the ‘Double Four Valve’ V8 (above), developed for Lotus using £100,000 of Ford’s money. Colin Chapman’s genius was to use it as a stressed member in the new 49, and it won on its debut at the 1967 Dutch GP with Jim Clark, the first of 155 F1 victories; it’s still winning in historics today. In 1975, the turbocharged DFX version was launched in the US, where it won 10 Indy 500s in a row and dominated the series for a decade. In the ’80s, the 3.3- and 4-litre DFL long-distance version was successfully used in endurance racing, with five Le Mans class wins.